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China Says its WTO Entry Still Possible this Year

BEIJING, Oct 9, 2000 -- (Reuters) A Chinese trade official said on Monday that Beijing still hoped to join the World Trade Organization before the year`s end, despite remarks by the top U.S. trade negotiator that the communist-ruled country may have to wait until next year.

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said on Friday that slow progress in talks threatened to delay China`s entry past the end of this year, which Beijing had originally set as its target for entering the world trade club.

"We will make efforts to enter WTO," said the official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), who declined to be named.

"We will still follow our set policy to gain entry."

Diplomats say sticking points include how China will implement WTO rules on intellectual property and other reforms, including how it will assign safeguard quotas for a vast array of goods imported under special tariffs.

Barshefsky hopes to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and other leaders later this month or early in November to help break the stalemate. Zhu will be on visits to Japan and South Korea from October 12-22.

"It is still possible to finish this up by year-end," Barshefsky told Reuters in an interview.

"For us to wrap up the negotiations this year, China will have to make very rapid progress in the talks," she said.

TERMS STRESSED OVER TIMING

The MOFTEC official declined to comment on what problems might be delaying the talks.

But state media have quoted China`s chief trade negotiator as saying Beijing would not accept provisions which were harmful to its rights.

"We cannot accept provisions which are detrimental to China`s legitimate rights under WTO," Long said in September at the end of the last session of the working party on China`s entry.

"What we care mostly is not the specific timing of accession, but the terms of accession," he said.

The Swiss official chairing the talks, Pierre-Louis Girard, has said the talks have hit serious problems which needed high-level political guidance to resolve.

China sealed a bilateral deal with the United States in November last year and with the European Union (EU) in May. It must still conclude a bilateral agreement with Mexico and complete procedures at the multilateral level.

Diplomatic sources said EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy would visit Beijing at the end of October for the annual EU-China summit and China`s WTO entry would be one topic of discussion.

"This is in the summit context. Nothing is really fully decided yet," one source said, referring to Lamy`s visit.

French President Jacques Chirac and European Commission President Romano Prodi would attend the summit, and European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes was also likely to visit with them, diplomats said.

(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters Limited.

Ciao!
kain
 
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